What is it about the classic Frankenstein story that has up ‘n coming filmmakers using it as a vehicle to present new ideas and explore contemporary themes? Recently, there was The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster which took on racism and gun violence. And now Laura Moss’ Sundance hit birth/rebirth uses horror to focus on motherhood, female friendship, and more.
Marin Ireland and Judy Reyes star in this update of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, centering on a pathologist obsessed with reanimating the dead, and a mother desperate to see her dead child once again.
Moss is an NYC-based filmmaker who not only directed but co-wrote the script with Brendan J. O’Brien.A .J. Lister, Breeda Wool, Monique Garbiela Curnen, Rina Mejia, Grant Harrison, and LaChanze co-star.
Here’s the synopsis: Rose is a pathologist who prefers working with corpses over social interaction. She also has an obsession — the reanimation of the dead. Celie is a maternity nurse who has built her life around her bouncy, chatterbox six-year-old daughter, Lila. When one tragic night, Lila suddenly falls ill and dies, the two women’s worlds crash into each other. They embark on a dark path of no return where they will be forced to confront how far they are willing to go to protect what they hold most dear.
This standout directorial debut from Laura Moss reimagines Mary Shelley’s classic horror myth Frankenstein with such a contemporary understanding that it becomes something exciting, terrifying, and singularly new.
birth/rebirth opens in theaters on August 18th via IFC Films and Shudder.
